Why would a gun-control advocate want to buy an AR-15?

posted at 5:21 pm on March 13, 2013 by Allahpundit

We haven’t blogged this yet but many of you know about it, I assume, from reading Breitbart.com, which has been all over it. In a nutshell: Mark Kelly walked into a gun store a few weeks ago and bought two weapons, one a Sig Sauer 45 pistol and the other a, er, Sig Sauer assault rifle, news of which was subsequently leaked to Breitbart. CNN invited him on to ask him about it and Kelly accepted. Why’s he buying guns that he thinks should be banned? Simple, said Kelly to Wolf Blitzer. As a prominent spokesman for gun control, he needs to know firsthand just how easy it is for someone to walk in off the street and purchase an incredibly dangerous weapon. Why he needs this firsthand knowledge, I have no idea. No one on either side is disputing that it’s easy to buy an AR-15 if you have no criminal record; there’s a new story on the wires every day about how they’re selling like hot cakes coast to coast. The whole point of the gun debate is that gun-rights advocates think it should be easy to get one. (Also, if he thinks there’s been a significant gap in his gun knowledge until now due to his lack of personal experience, why has he been out there trying to set national policy?) But okay — let’s give him the benefit of the doubt by assuming that he was just curious to see how simple it was.

In that case, why’d he buy a second-hand rifle, which made the process harder? A.W.R. Hawkins wonders:

The “local ordinances” that apply to the Sig Sauer M400 5.56mm AR-style rifle required that the AR-15 be placed on hold for 20 days because it was second-hand. If Kelly’s goal was to show how easy the background check system really is, why didn’t he buy a new “assault rifle” so he could take possession of it immediately, thereby allowing him to finish the background check on day he originally walked into the store–March 5?

When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Kelly on Monday what it was like going into a gun store and “buying an AR-15.” Kelly said that for such a “deadly” weapon, “especially with the high capacity magazines, it’s a pretty easy thing to do, even with the background check.”…

Kelly has openly stated that his plan from the beginning was to buy such a firearm and hand it over to the police (even though, as Breitbart News reported, under pending legislation the police would likely have to sell the AR-15 rather than destroying it, returning it to the streets).

In that case, wouldn’t any AR-style rifle do?

Right. If you want to prove that a nut whose record is clean can get a dangerous weapon quickly, just walk in and ask the seller what he can give you from Dianne Feinstein’s list that’ll put an assault rifle in your hands ASAP. Subjecting himself to a 20-day waiting period ends up proving the opposite, that the dealer in this case is scrupulous about observing local gun laws and that it’s difficult to grab an AR-15 as an impulse buy if you’re purchasing it second-hand. It’s more plausible that he sincerely wanted the gun and was hoping to get a price break on it by buying it used than that he was trying to “prove” something.

But then, you don’t need to reach the circumstances of the AR-15 purchase to find the “lesson” here odd. Watch the clip below and you’ll see Kelly say that he plans to keep the Sig Sauer pistol he bought. If he’s serious about reducing gun violence, though, why give semiautomatic pistols a pass? The lunatic who shot his wife didn’t use an assault rifle, he used a Glock 9 mm with a high-capacity magazine. And if he hadn’t accidentally dropped a second magazine while he was trying to reload, he would have been able to keep firing despite there being a crowd of people around him. Needless to say, Kelly has every right to protect himself and his wife, especially after what happened, but the logic by which a rapid-fire, potentially high-capacity weapon becomes more acceptable if it’s smaller, easier to carry, and more readily concealable escapes me. It’s like supporting vegetarianism by declaring buffalo and shark strictly off-limits but making an exception for chicken and beef. If you want to make a point about gun control, why not reject all semiautomatics and stick to revolvers?

Update: Via Ace: “He thinks they trust him with Space Shuttle but that it’s a scandal that he could pass a quick background check to buy a rifle?”

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Because he is a hypocrite and an imbecile. Perhaps he really can’t be blamed, he was educated by the American Public Educational System after all. It is obvious that he has turned out exactly as the American Public EducationalMarxist Indoctrination System intended him to, a Marxist to stupid to think for himself.

As a prominent spokesman for gun control, he needs to know firsthand just how easy it is for someone to walk in off the street and purchase an incredibly dangerous weapon.

Somebody who is a former astronaut, former military officer, and I’m sure a former holder of high government security clearances. Not the kind of person the background checks are designed to make it hard to get a legal weapon through legal means.

This clown bought the AR-15 for personal protection — while he still could — and someone found out. Thus, he got caught being a weapons-grade hypocrite, so now he is lying his ass off about why he bought it. And the media? Well they are helping him with the lie, even though THEY know it’s a lie just as the rest of us do. I am so sick and tired of liberals lying so transparently, and getting their panties in a wad when the rest of us won’t go along with the lie. Screw him. What a big fat phony.

and this is astronaut material? Talking my son this weekend I get the hint the dems are getting pasted on this. He never cared for Obama and until recently has shown little interest in politics but he was especially critical of Kelly and Giffords for playing stooges for a dem cause and being so overtly clumsy about it.

A Smith and Wesson 8 shot 357mag revolver with a 5 inch barrel is the most perfect CQB instrument ever devised. God Help the assailants facing such a weapon with a experienced man controlling the trigger.

Yeah, he was lying to wolfie there. He was doing a legal thing, the shop was going by the book. He thinks he got caught so he lies about the AR-15. Maybe this astronaut needs more training in the simulator, ehhh? Hey if an astronaut is this stupid, what if a rocket scientist does the same thing? Oh wait, it’s not rocket science.

Just like Nanzi Pelosi his actions reveal him to be one of the “Do as I say not as I do” crowd.

Laws are for the little people. Strange (no, not really) that the Marxist media forget Conservative Judge Ross who gave his life to save others by shielding them with his own body on that bad day in Arizona.

He’s a total phoney who got caught. Who would spend hundreds of dollars on a rifle only to turn it in to police?
Liam on March 13, 2013 at 5:31 PM

Not to nitpick – but that rifle is over $1000. So that’s a VERY expensive little stunt – at least to us peon commoners – maybe not for a retired O-6 / astronaut whose wife has been hauling in a congressional salary as well.

If Kelly has sworn to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, but had his fingers crossed about that 2nd Amendment thingy….well, his mirror is in a lot of trouble.

C’mon, you know damn well that he bought it for the same reason so many other people are buying ARs these days: he saw it, he thought it was cool, and he wanted to get one before Feinstein bans them. But then someone spotted him and called him out, and he had to come up with his lame-ass excuse about how he was trying to prove some retarded point about gun control. So he’s a liberal and a liar and a hypocrite. But, I repeat myself.

Not to nitpick – but that rifle is over $1000. So that’s a VERY expensive little stunt – at least to us peon commoners – maybe not for a retired O-6 / astronaut whose wife has been hauling in a congressional salary as well.

The guy’s a Navy captain who served the country honorably in combat. Perhaps you can show him some respect even as you disagree with his ideas and methods. Thank you.

Time Lord on March 13, 2013 at 5:34 PM

Yes, well said. Let’s calm down a bit, please.

Allahpundit on March 13, 2013 at 5:39 PM

No problem with respect for what he did in the military – but his political gun control stunts like this are a slap in the face of every other vet who served this country (myself included) who swore to “protect and defend the US Constitution”.
His prior military service is NOT a shield to protect him from critique and disdain for what he is currently doing.

The guy’s a Navy captain who served the country honorably in combat. Perhaps you can show him some respect even as you disagree with his ideas and methods. Thank you.

Time Lord on March 13, 2013 at 5:34 PM

Yes, well said. Let’s calm down a bit, please.

Allahpundit on March 13, 2013 at 5:39 PM

With all due respect Allahpundit, two of my brothers, my step-father, my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my great-great grandfather and more uncles and cousins then I can name all served honorably. Ones honorable service once rendered is not a shield against doing dishonorable and treasonous things. His past actions, in light of his present actions in no way shape or form grant him license to be a dishonorable douche bag.

No problem with respect for what he did in the military – but his political gun control stunts like this are a slap in the face of every other vet who served this country (myself included) who swore to “protect and defend the US Constitution”.
His prior military service is NOT a shield to protect him from critique and disdain for what he is currently doing.

NOTE TO Allahpundit: The massive, unlimited HYPOCRISY, LIES, DECEPTIONS, MISREPRESENTATIONS, CORRUPTION, SELF-SERVING PANDERING, etc., etc., of the lunatic-left d-cRAT socialist extremists is NOT news. It would be NEWS if they didn’t continually do these things – but that will NEVER happen!

Also, wait, what? If he’s been a gun owner all his life as he claimed there at the end, then that completely undermines his stated rationale for doing this. He already knew the process of acquiring firearms. This guy’s got to be one of the dumbest libs on the national stage I’ve seen in a long time.

The guy’s a Navy captain who served the country honorably in combat. Perhaps you can show him some respect even as you disagree with his ideas and methods. Thank you.

Time Lord on March 13, 2013 at 5:34 PM

The guy flew a few missions during ODS. Let’s not over-state his combat creds either. Not nearly the same thing as folks I know who have done multiple tours on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. One individual was there for nearly two years (voluntary extension because he was doing stuff that mattered in developing the technology to thwart IEDs).

I’m not dismissing Kelly’s service just saying that you are way off on your calibration of who deserves the most respect.

A Smith and Wesson 8 shot 357mag revolver1911 in .45 ACP with a 5 inch barrel is the most perfect CQB instrument ever devised. God Help the assailants facing such a weapon with a experienced man controlling the trigger.

Flimsy panicked excuse aside, this bozo was an astronaut, the flying.g kind and not a glorified technician hitching a ride on the shuttle. There’s only one way to jockey a shuttle and that’s if you used to be a military pilot, preferably a fighter jock. One of the requisites for pilots is qualifying with sidearms in case you get shot down. This guy is a libturd POS

Sorry, but this man’s behavior is beyond the pale. Being a veteran and former astronaut does not serve as a license for hypocrisy and dishonesty, or a shield from criticism or character judgments that rightfully follow.

He didn’t just lie, he lied to the entire country. I do not share the common willingness to excuse such mendacity. It is an insult, and I take it personally.

Buying a firearm with the intent to transfer it (and not disclosing that fact during purchase on ATFE Form 4473) is a Federal felony, punishable by 10 years in federal prison. It is called a straw-man purchase and is no different than buying a gun for an illegal alien who then goes and shoots police and firefighters in New York….

BTW, simply signing the 4473 is sufficient to prove the crime. Actual possession of the firearm is not required.

No problem with respect for what he did in the military – but his political gun control stunts like this are a slap in the face of every other vet who served this country (myself included) who swore to “protect and defend the US Constitution”.
His prior military service is NOT a shield to protect him from critique and disdain for what he is currently doing.

dentarthurdent on March 13, 2013 at 5:47 PM

Exactly. Mark Kelly has been railing against legal gun ownership, the NRA and constitutional conservatives, ever since the Tucson shooting. Kelly has exploited every major shooting incident in the U.S. over the past two years, to push his gun-grabbing, anti-2nd amendment agenda (Kelly has been one of the most vocal exploiters of the Sandy Hook tragedy) – every move he makes is questionable.

Gee…. I wonder what event happened on say Jan 21st that might have caused that.

Happy Nomad on March 13, 2013 at 6:02 PM

Prices have been climbing and availability dropping since November 6. It was fairly easy for me to get one in December, but now Sportsman’s Warehouse has a lottery system for the limited numbers they get in each week. You get your name in a bucket Friday morning, they draw names and call you Friday afternoon with a number, then you go back in Saturday morning and get in line according to your number to get the chance to buy something. First up gets decent choices. This week, the last things left were Bushmaster Carbon-15s and a Ruger Mini-14 – which still hadn’t sold as of Sunday afternoon. So somebody walked away empty-handed.

But then again, this guy is not coming off as terribly bright right now. You’d think a Naval Aviator and Astronaut would be a bit smarter.

dentarthurdent on March 13, 2013 at 6:00 PM

You sure would.

No one has more respect for military service than me. But the military, just like any organization, public or private, is not immune from having idiots rise within its ranks. I mean, look at Joe Biden. I’m surprised that he can figure out how to get out of bed in the morning, and yet he’s the VP. It happens all the time. It never ceases to amaze me. I meet with successful CEOs of top companies regularly in the course of doing my job, and I’m always floored that many of them are just plain morons. Yet they’re successful. Look at Bloomberg for example.

Some people are very good at certain particular niche skills. But the second they step outside of those skill sets, they become so dumb that they couldn’t think their way out of a wet paper bag. This guy should shut up and stick to Naval Aviating and Astrounauting. If he was even good at those things.

While I do, indeed, appreciate Capt. Kelly’s service, he doesn’t get any free rides because of it.
He was seen (caught?) buying a rifle that he would deny to others…and then made up a story to cover his butt. And he continues to lie about it. (I want to see the video when he ‘donates’ it to the police and relinquishes all rights and ownership to it.)
He and Gabby were both pro-gun before the shooting; and only formed their *tax-free* anti-gun group afterward – when they found that there was a load of grant money available for a group like that.
They’re both hypocrites.

Hard to make the case you’re a legitimate gun control advocate when you go and do something like that, no matter what the reason. He’s lost his credibility, looks like a hypocrite, or worse, like he’s exploiting what happened to his wife, although I don’t know how he’d benefit from that. He just looks like another opportunist to me.

in the famous words of McCain this is a stunt. Obviously he and his wife are setting up shop to be the new Brady people…leftist always need people like this. Now why is he going it? Money, Power, or maybe a true believer…who knows. I’ll grant that to have a spouse shot in the head, and to care for her in ways that we can’t know, and to face a lifetime of that, must be very tough…and a lot of people would be very bitter about it.

So I’ll give him that.

But, I’ve read the Schumer bill that passed out of committee yesterday. it is crystal clear where the left is headed. 1. Involved licensed firearms dealers and the NCIS in every transaction every made with a gun.

Second, and more importantly, start identifying who is permuted to have a gun. So the quaint notion of your G_d given right is bogus, the government (Holder, et al) will decide.

First batter up, misdemeanors for domestic violence, who could argue that? Next, mental health issues. Then the merge of the h/c database and NCIS database and we’ll have those who take SSRIs…

the Left feels the wind at its back…moving forward. They will decide who gets the guns…and who does not

Kelly is a bit player in all this…but very important in keeping the pressure on. Bloomberg is a big player in this…and gabby is the prop

Buying a firearm with the intent to transfer it (and not disclosing that fact during purchase on ATFE Form 4473) is a Federal felony, punishable by 10 years in federal prison.

HBowmanMD on March 13, 2013 at 6:05 PM

Interesting point.

Happy Nomad on March 13, 2013 at 6:10 PM

Not entirely accurate. You can buy the gun and give it as a gift. I actually bought one of my wife’s guns, and a co-worker of mine has bought several guns for his family members.
The straw purchase applies if you immediately (time limit unknown)turn around and sell it to someone else.
As long as he “donates” it or gives it as a gift to someone who could have legally bought it themselves, it’s not really an illegal transfer.

Regarding the calls to “calm down”: No. This is the precise time to turn up the heat. One of the most vocal gun grabbers of the day got busted buying one of the very guns he wants the guvment to stop OTHERS from owning — and then he tries to shove a lie down everyone’s throat along with his hypocrisy. Clearly, HE fears gun control. Clearly, HE fears the overreach of his own government. Clearly, HE believes he has a right to self-protection. One of today’s biggest gun grabbers just became the poster child for the pro-Second Amendment lobby. This isn’t the time to “calm down.”

C’mon, you know damn well that he bought it for the same reason so many other people are buying ARs these days: he saw it, he thought it was cool, and he wanted to get one before Feinstein bans them.

Hayabusa on March 13, 2013 at 5:45 PM

Hey, give the dude a break. He and his wife recently moved into her Tucson house, and he is understandably nervous about living so near the violent southern border without any means of protecting himself and his family. The local sheriff is an idiot, the vicious Mexican drug gangs know they can do whatever they want, the Obama administration has eliminated even the pretense that they are guarding the border, and illegal crossings are up as the next wave of criminals tries to get across in time for the next amnesty.

BTW, simply signing the 4473 is sufficient to prove the crime. Actual possession of the firearm is not required.

Why is he not in jail?

HBowmanMD on March 13, 2013 at 6:05 PM

Over 70,000 purchases are rejected each year. Less than 50 are prosecuted, even though DOJ stats show 28% of rejectees are charged with a gun-related crime within 5 years of committing the felony of falsifying a Form 4473.

How many crimes would be prevented and how many lives saved if these criminals were in a federal pen where they belonged?

Enforcing the law would certainly reduce the crime rate. When the word got around that trying to buy a gun from a dealer illegally would get you 5 years in the hole the number of attempts would surely drop.

Unfortunately, enforcing a law that would actually reduce gun crime by focusing on criminals undercuts the whole gun control agenda of restricting the rights of the law abiding. So the criminals go free and the law is not enforced, an all too common practice of Holder and Obama when enforcing the law they are sworn to uphold is politically disadvantageous.

I’ll grant that to have a spouse shot in the head, and to care for her in ways that we can’t know, and to face a lifetime of that, must be very tough…and a lot of people would be very bitter about it.
So I’ll give him that.

r keller on March 13, 2013 at 6:18 PM

He actually left the planet instead of sticking around to care for her.

I don’t think he really wants to be a gun control advocate, I think he got caught up in it because of what happened to his wife. He has stated in the past that he and his wife both own guns. I think he really believes in the second ammendment and if you listen to him he has only really been pushing for background checks. Now after saying that I think he got caught trying to buy the gun for himself, and trying to save face with gun control advocates he came up with this story to cover himself.